This invention relates to a process and medium for culturing ant venom gland cells. More particularly, this invention relates to a process, cell culture and cell culture medium for in vitro culture of cells of the venom gland of the ant Pseudomyrmex triplarinus.
The cells of the venom gland of the ant, Pseudomyrmex triplarinus are known to produce biologically active materials which are useful in treating the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis; see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,540 issued Jan. 27, 1981 to Holzmann, and Arthritis and Rheumatism, 25(4), Supplement, Abstract C88 (Apr. 1982). However, the extraction of the venom gland cells from P. triplarinus is such a tedious, time-consuming and expensive operation the extraction of sufficient cells even for experimental purposes is a formidable proposition, while production of the biologically active material on a commercial scale is out of the question without some process for culturing the venom gland cells in vitro. Hitherto, no such process for in vitro culture of the venom gland cells has been available. This invention provides a process for culturing such cells in vitro, the resultant cell culture, and a cell culture medium for use in the process.